New York Post
New York’s Racial ‘Risk Factor’ for COVID Treatment is Illegal and Immoral
New York City’s and state’s departments of health have reached a divisive and destructive low. In new guidelines rationing scarce, lifesaving oral antiviral medications and…
Forbes
Joe Biden’s Year in Federal Regulation, 2021
Today is New Year’s Eve. Yesterday, December 31, 2021 was the last federal workday of the year. This presents an obvious opportunity to…
National Review
They Couldn’t Cancel Him
National Review
Confronting Omicron: One Step Forward, One Step Static
President Joe Biden’s recent address on the Omicron variant was full of holiday miracles. After nearly a year in office, Biden finally conceded…
The Dispatch
Classical Liberals Aren’t Naive About Big Business
Big business has become a point of friction between conservatives and classical liberals, especially social media and other internet companies that fall under the…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Federal Register took Christmas Eve off, and here’s hoping everyone had a happy holiday season. One more week to go in 2021. The…
The Wall Street Journal
Drug Prices Haven’t Been Going Up
Build Back Better may be dead, but its proposed drug price controls will likely reappear: negotiating prices for high-cost drugs in Medicare and price…
The Hill
Congress and the Biden Administration Should be Wary of the FAA’s Opposition to 5G Spectrum Allocation
In early December, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a new rule restricting aircraft and helicopters from using certain automated…
Blog
Edmans, Soukup, and Devine: 2021 Book Review Roundup
We saw some great books on economics and politics published over the past year, and some excellent book reviews. Just this week, my colleague…
Blog
This Week’s Outrage (which Touches on Civil Asset Forfeiture)
Last month, The New York Times reported on the way that law enforcement officers take money from the rest of us. I’ve been…
Blog
Review of Vivek Ramaswamy’s Woke, Inc.
Vivek Ramaswamy—pharmaceutical entrepreneur, son of immigrants, Yale Law grad, Hindu, and political conservative—is a capitalist with a lot of strong criticism for big business…
City Journal
Testing Our Patience
It has only been around a little more than a month, but the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 has taken…
News Release
Consumer Spending Growth Slows: COVID, Inflation, Supply Networks Are Factors: CEI Statement
On news today that inflation rose again in November, CEI Senior Fellow Ryan Young urged policymakers to do their part by spending less: “Consumer…
Blog
Best Books of 2021: Keith E. Stanovich, The Bias that Divides Us: The Science and Politics of Myside Thinking (MIT Press, 2021)
Today’s political polarization isn’t just annoying; it’s damaging important cultural and family institutions. And tensions won’t deescalate until people figure out the root of…
Blog
Best Books of 2021: Ryan Bourne, Economics in One Virus (Cato Institute, 2021) and Caleb Fuller, There Is No Free Lunch (Freiling, 2021)
Economists are an unpopular bunch. One reason for this is that much of their job is putting parameters on people’s utopias. Spending more…
Blog
Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority Is Becoming a Global Problem
When British supporters of Brexit talked of “global Britain,” they probably didn’t have in mind British bureaucrats dictating to the world how businesses should…
Forbes
Here Are the 295 Costliest Rules in Biden’s Fall 2021 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations
Along with the big spending, there’s big regulation, too. It seems to be mounting a return. Federal agencies issue …
Blog
CEI in Amicus Brief Asks Supreme Court to Block the Clean Power Plan that Congress Rejected
People often talk about the undemocratic and illegitimate administrative state, of which the Clean Power Plan (CPP) is the perfect example. The Supreme Court…
News Release
Biden EPA Fuel Standard Will Impose All-Pain, No-Gain Policies on Consumers
The Biden administration today announced a final rule raising fuel economy standards for cars and small trucks, reversing a more sensible Trump-era rule. The…
Blog
What’s Ahead for Regulation in 2022?
There are two questions about the coming year in regulation. The first is what will happen. The second is what should happen. What…
National Review
Don’t Let Regulators Kill Crypto
Americans are excited about crypto. Who can blame them? Digital currencies promise to eliminate the middleman in all manner of value transfers, starting with financial…
Law & Liberty
Self-Defeating Environmental Activism
When we say, “the environment,” we usually mean the natural world and its processes, the plants and animals which we collectively call the biosphere.
Blog
The Challenges of ESG Investing in Space
Last month, I had the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion on the future of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing in…
National Review
Don’t Let Regulators Kill Crypto
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Two big pieces of good news last week were the Senate’s decision to shelve the $1.7 trillion Build Back Better spending bill and…
Blog
This Week’s Civil Forfeiture Outrage (Seventh in a Series)
I’m happy to report that I’ve discovered no new civil forfeiture outrages this week. Instead, I’ll write about two civil forfeiture outrages that are…
Blog
The SEC’s Irrational Fear of Bitcoin
“The Commission has no basis for the position that investing in the derivatives market for an asset is acceptable for investors while investing in…
Blog
Have a Regulated Holiday Season!
The Code of Federal Regulations is 185,984 pages long, according to my colleague Wayne Crews’s Ten Thousand Commandmentsreport. It consists of 50 titles…
Blog
The Platform Competition and Opportunity Act Will Harm Innovation and Competition
Blog
Senate Shelves Build Back Better Spending Bill, For Now
The Senate will not vote on the Build Back Better (BBB) spending bill this year, though they might take it up again next…
Forbes
The Fall 2021 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations Delivers on Biden’s Promises of Government Activism
Each Spring and Fall since the 1980s, federal agencies have highlighted some of their regulatory priorities in the Unified Agenda of Federal…
National Review
Covid-19 Treatments and the FDA: A Sense of Urgency Might Help
As the Delta variant surges in various locales and the new Omicron variant expands around the globe, public officials are beginning to reimpose…
News Release
New Biden Admin Rule Unnecessarily Tells Americans How Much Water They Can Use in the Shower
The Biden Administration today announced a finalized rule restricting the amount of water showerheads with multiple nozzles can use. The final rule reverts…
Blog
Bah Humbug. The States that Ban Booze on Christmas, New Year’s, and other Winter Holidays
The holidays bring parties, feasts, and visits with friends and family, many of whom haven’t seen each other in person since the start of…
Blog
Policy Makers Should Allow Stablecoins to Thrive
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will convene a hearing on stablecoins today. Congress should focus on the many benefits this…
E&E News
Support Builds for Reversing Trump’s Limits on ESG Investing
E&E News cites Research Fellow Richard Morrison’s DOL letter on pension funds and ESG investing: To be sure, there will be detractors. Conservative…
Blog
Can Pensions Be Saved from Political Mismanagement?
The Department of Labor is currently working on a new rule that would give pension fund managers greater leeway in considering non-financial criteria…
Blog
President Biden Sows the Whirlwind
It’s the president’s job to console the nation when natural disasters strike, like the horrendous tornado outbreak last Friday night. Much of Mayfield,…
National Review
How ESG Advocates Want to Redefine Your Retirement
Economic policy is changing fast in Washington, and your retirement account may soon experience the whiplash. One of the best policies enacted by the previous…
Blog
Biden’s Fall 2021 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulation Heralds Abandonment of Regulatory Oversight Role
The Biden administration has just released the Fall 2021 edition of the twice-yearly Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The number of new regulations this year topped 3,000, ending the week at 3,068, and the 2021 Federal Register topped 70,000 pages. Inflation went…
National Review
The Covid Mandates Should Be Ignored
the highways in South Florida, the speed limit is generally 55 mph. I don’t know why, but it doesn’t matter: Everyone blows right through…
Comment
Comment on Proposed Rule “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights”
Assistant Secretary Khawar: Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Employee Benefits Security Administration’s recently proposed rule on the Investment Duties…
Blog
This Week’s Civil Forfeiture Outrage (Sixth in a Series)
This week’s civil forfeiture outrage begins with a photograph of a police dog crouching over more than $100,000 in U.S. currency. Earlier this week,…
News Release
CEI Commends Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin for Promise To Withdraw Virginia from Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
WASHINGTON – This week, Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin announced his intention to withdraw the Commonwealth of Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI),…
Blog
Inflation Increases to 6.8 percent, Misery Index Reaches 11
October’s inflation reading was the highest since the recession of 1991. November’s is the highest since the 1982 recession, at an annualized 6.8…
Letters
CEI Joins NTU-Led Coalition Warns of BBB’s Impact on Drug Competition
Dear Senators and Representatives: On behalf of the undersigned organizations — taxpayer, consumer, and free market advocates from across the country — we…
Blog
For Energy Infrastructure Projects, Even Supreme Court Victories Mean Nothing
In the last two years, two different natural gas pipeline projects were the subject of Supreme Court cases, and both times the project developers…
Blog
Can Regional Trade Agreements Replace the WTO?
Trade policy is in a bad place right now, with two consecutive protectionist administrations in the U.S. and the World Trade Organization (WTO) possibly…
Blog
Is It Finally Goodbye for Incandescent Light Bulbs—and Consumer Choice?
President George W. Bush initiated the federal government’s targeting of incandescent light bulbs in energy legislation he signed in 2007. Subsequent Department of…
Blog
Seven Quotes about Communism
Years ago, I pulled together some quotations about Communism that I thought would make good epitaphs for what I believed was a dying ideology.
News Release
Biden Bank Regulator Nominee Withdraws Due to Bipartisan Opposition
President Biden’s pick for Comptroller of the Currency withdrew today after critics, including the Competitive Enterprise Institute, exposed her many statements sympathetic to communism.
City Journal
All for Show
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio will end his tenure at midnight, December 31, 2021, but he seems intent on inflicting one last…
National Review
Tales from the Carbon Cult in Glasgow
CEI’s visiting investigative writer, Kevin D. Williamson, shares tales from COP26Myths of the 21st CenturyThere is a whiff of incense in the air, sweet and heavy as tree…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The number of new final regulations this year will pass 3,000 this week, with more than three weeks still to go. The Omicron variant…
National Review
Biden’s Travel Restrictions Don’t Follow the Science
Joe Biden never tires of saying his COVID-19 policies follow “the science.” He recently pontificated that he would battle the emerging Omicron coronavirus variant…
Blog
This Week’s Civil Forfeiture Outrages (Fifth in a Series)
I just finished watching one of the most gripping, compelling videos I have ever seen. It’s like a dystopian horror movie—except it’s real.
Blog
Why Both Democrats and Republicans Should Oppose Gigi Sohn’s Nomination as FCC Commissioner
On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee held a confirmation hearing on the nomination of Gigi Sohn to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). During…
News Release
Disappointing Job Gains for November 2021 Speak to Government Barriers to Economic Recovery
The U.S. economy added 210,000 jobs in November, far short of what economists expected. CEI experts say government mandates and restrictions remain a big…
Blog
CEI’s New Anti-Carbon Tax Study
CEI has a new study out this week titled, “Why Carbon Taxes Are Anti-Growth, Anti-Consumer, and Politically Dangerous for Conservatives.” It develops the…
Blog
Social Media in Parallel Universes
The chasm between the political discourse at yesterday’s House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing on social media platforms and the legal…
Blog
Request to OIRA to Ensure Peer Review of Agency’s Medical Marijuana Claims
For two years, CEI has been trying to get the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to…
CEI Planet
CEI Planet Winter 2021
Blog
The Bizarre Logic of the NLRB’s Decision in the Amazon Union Case
The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) order overturning the workers’ rejection of a union at an Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama, and…
News Release
A Carbon Tax Would Raise Prices, Harm Economy and Spur Political Backlash
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) published a new paper today arguing a carbon tax is unnecessary, harmful to economic growth and consumers,…
Study
Why Carbon Taxes Are Anti-Growth, Anti-Consumer, and Politically Dangerous for Conservatives
A tax on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, contrary to its advocates’ claims, is a market-rigging policy, not a free market one. Its purpose is…
Letters
Coalition Letter to OIRA Re: Request for OIRA to Resolve Interagency Disagreement Concerning IQA Implementation About Medical Marijuana
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) requests that OIRA resolve a dispute between two different agencies concerning responsibility for ensuring compliance with the Information Quality…
Comment
Letter to OIRA Re: Request for OIRA to Resolve Interagency Disagreement Concerning IQA Implementation About Medical Marijuana
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) requests that OIRA resolve a dispute between two different agencies concerning responsibility for ensuring compliance with the Information Quality…
The Washington Times
Biden Administration Probe of Supply Chain Woes Slammed as ‘Demagoguery’
The Washington Times cites Research Fellow Sean Higgins and Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on the current supply chain crisis: But researchers…
The Washington Times
Inflation, Supply Shortages Drive up Christmas Tree Prices
The Washington Times cites Senior Fellow Ryan Young on Christmas tree sales: Ryan Young, a senior fellow at the libertarian Competitive…
Blog
Another Court Rejects Federal Attempt to Impose a Vaccine Mandate
Shortly following the Fifth Circuit blocking the private employer mandate from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Judge Matthew Schelp of the…
Law & Liberty
What’s in Your Wallet?
To help foot the bill for the “Build Back Better” budget reconciliation bill—originally slated to cost $3.5 trillion—the Biden administration proposed an unprecedented measure…
The New York Post
Politicians Are Using Omicron as an Excuse to Return to their Autocratic Ways
Since the start of the pandemic, governors around the country have often struggled to appear to be doing something to stem COVID-19, regardless of…
Blog
Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Cannot Undo Biden Administration’s Anti-Drilling Agenda
The Biden administration seems to know the playbook for pretending to respond to high gasoline prices. First, blame big oil for price gouging and…
National Review
Unite and Get Ready to Fight
The Wall Street Journal recently ran one of those opinion pieces you know you’ll remember years later. In “The Impossible Insurrection of…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was a short work week because of Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, agencies issued new rules ranging from blood lancets to crash test dummies. On…
Blog
The “Public Nuisance” Theory of Pharmaceutical Liability for the Opioids Crisis Is … a Public Nuisance
The jury in a federal court in Ohio has found three major pharmacy chains—CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens—liable for the opioids crisis in two…
Blog
Deregulate to Stimulate: 15 Republican Governors Launch ‘Operation Open Roads’ to Unclog Supply Chains
Some cheery holiday news reported in the Epoch Times: Fifteen Republican governors, led by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, have launched…
News Release
Thankful for Good Economic News on Jobs, Consumer Spending: More to Do
During Thanksgiving week, jobless claims dipped to 199,000, their lowest level in 52 years, when the country’s population was less than two thirds…
Real Clear Policy
DOJ’s Antitrust Case Against Publishers is an Overreach
The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust suit to stop the merger of publishers Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster has not gained…
Blog
The Invisible Hand, Not Washington, Is Easing the Supply Chain Crisis
The supply chain crisis is showing signs of receding. This is happening not because of any action by the White House or Congress. The…
Blog
NEPA Is Not a Climate Policy Framework. CEI Submits Comments on Biden Proposal
CEI submitted comments yesterday opposing the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) proposal to repeal regulations adopted by the Trump CEQ in…
News Release
Fed Chairman Powell Should Prioritize Getting Inflation Under Control
President Biden has re-nominated Jerome Powell to head the Federal Reserve, and CEI Senior Fellow Ryan Young expressed hope that Powell will make the…
The Washington Examiner
To Address Plastic Pollution, We Need More than Symbolic Actions
The buildup of plastic in the ocean is a real problem. During the past decade or so, U.S. and European lawmakers’ “answer” has come…
Blog
Another Gasoline Price Increase, Another Useless Federal Trade Commission Investigation
President Biden has officially requested the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate high gasoline prices. Unfortunately, this diversionary tactic has a long history…
Blog
GOP Cannabis Legalization Bill Could Finally Surmount Partisan Divide
Even with the majority of Americans having supported cannabis legalization for nearly a decade, proposals to decriminalize the substance at the federal level…
Forbes
This Thanksgiving, Big Government Is the Turkey
The turkeys Peanut Butter and Jelly got a Thanksgiving pardon from Joe Biden at the White House. Presentation of a turkey to…
Comment
CEI Comments on Biden Administration Proposal to Revise National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Implementing Regulations.
Comments of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) proposal to…
Blog
Biden Administration Seeks to Punish Stablecoin Success
Stablecoin market capitalization has risen by 500 percent in past 12 months. The growth aligns with growing interest in transacting outside heavily regulated…
City Journal
One Size Doesn’t Fit All
In a rebuke of the Biden administration, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed its stay of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA)…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The House passed a $1.85 trillion spending bill, which a 50-50 Senate will now consider. An Alzheimer’s vaccine began human trials. If…
The New York Post
A Reality Check on How we Handle COVID-19 Risks
COVID-19 is still with us. Cases are rising in Europe and to a smaller extent in this country. But the fact that SARS-CoV-2, the…
Blog
Court Strikes Down Trump Tariff: Precedent for Institution-Level Changes?
Pessimism reigns for trade liberalization in the short run, but there is fresh hope for the long run. A new court decision over solar…
Blog
New Car Prices Are Soaring Biden’s Policies Would Make Things Worse
New car prices are soaring, according to a report released last week by Kelley Blue Book. From Kelley’s press release: …
The Washington Times
Economic Pressures Boost Thanksgiving Turkey Prices by 20%
The Washington Times cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on Thanksgiving prices: Iain Murray, a senior analyst at the libertarian…
The Epoch Times
Bank Regulator Nominee Tries to Detach From Her Bank Centralization Ideas During Hearing
The Epoch Times cites Senior Fellow John Berlau on a recent statement by Saule Omarova. John Berlau, senior fellow at the…
The Washington Examiner
The death of democracy
Repost: Michael Pack’s piece at the Washington Examiner, as part of their Restoring America Project I have witnessed…
News Release
Senators Should Reject Comptroller of Currency Nominee Saule Omarova
WASHINGTON – In a hearing today, Senators on the Banking Committee will consider the nomination of Saule Omarova to be Comptroller of the…
Letters
CEI Joins Letter Opposing Nomination of Saule Omarova for Comptroller of the Currency
November 5, 2021 The Honorable Sherrod Brown Chairman Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 534 Dirksen…
Letters
CEI Joins ATR Led Drug Price Control Coalition Letter
Dear Member of Congress: We write in opposition to the Democrat plan to impose price controls, a 95 percent excise tax, and inflation…